Arch Lake Woman : Physical Anthropology and Geoarchaeology

by Owsley, Douglas W.

• ISBN13: 9781603442084
• ISBN10: 1603442081
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-09-28
• Publisher: Texas A & M Univ Pr

Summary

The Arch Lake human burial site, discovered in 1967 in eastern New Mexico, contains the third-oldest known remains in North America. Since its original excavation and removal to Eastern New Mexico Universityrs"s Blackwater Draw Museum, the 10,000 radiocarbon-year-old burial has been known only locally. In February 2000 an interdisciplinary team led by Douglas W. Owsley reexamined the osteology, geology, archaeology, and radiocarbon dating of the burial. In this first volume in Peopling of the Americas Publications-released by Texas A&M University Press for the Center for the Study of the First Americans-Arch Lake Womanpresents the results of this recent analysis of the skeleton and site. The team noted unique morphological characteristics of the Arch Lake skeleton, found lying supine with cultural materials including talc beads, a probable bone tool, and dense red pigment associated with a unifacial stone tool. In addition to color and black-and-white illustrations,Arch Lake Womanincludes extensive tables describing the teamrs"s discoveries and comparing their results with those of other ancient burials.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	p. vii
Tables	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
Study of the Site	p. 7
Human Osteology	p. 9
Geoarchaeology	p. 15
Microprobe Analysis of the Iron-bearing Sediment	p. 21
Radiocarbon Dating of the Skeleton	p. 23
Stable Isotope Values	p. 28
Cranial Morphometrics	p. 30
Dental Morphology and Measurements	p. 35
Post-cranial Measurements	p. 48
Burial Assemblage	p. 53
Archaeological Comparison of Arch Lake with Other Early Burials, 9500-10,020 Radiocarbon Years	p. 62
Discussion and Conclusion	p. 78
References	p. 81
Index	p. 89
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.